


Scintillation (you shine so bright)

by Ememmy



Series: alohamora heart [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, We love him, but like, hogwarts where the older ones are college age, jaehyun is a mess, this is basic but i finally am doing it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-11-22 12:17:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20874080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ememmy/pseuds/Ememmy
Summary: This was it. It was all over. Jaehyun was going to have a heart attack and die.It was the sight of a head of freshly dyed pastel pink hair that was the problem, really.





	1. cotton candy

This was it. It was all over. Jaehyun was going to have a heart attack and die. 

It was the sight of a head of freshly dyed pastel pink hair that was the problem, really. The owner of said head of hair was leaning down to talk to the tiny first years that stopped him in the entrance of the Great Hall. They were looking at him with adoration, which, who wouldn’t, with the blue of his robes offsetting the adorable cotton candy pink? Really, Taeyong? At this godforsaken hour of the morning?

Jaehyun smacked his head down onto the Slytherin table with a dull thud, which made his silverware rattle and Ten to snort in amusement beside him. 

“What is it this time, Jae?” Ten asked with a teasing tone, taking an obnoxious bite of toast. 

Ugh, as if he didn’t already know. Jaehyun just looked up at him and glared. 

His expression softened upon the sight of sunlight streaming in through the windows, backlighting Taeyong with an ethereal glow as he moved to sit down at the Ravenclaw table. Jaehyun sighed, elbows on the table and hands pressed against his cheeks. His whole body would have threatened to melt into his seat, if it wasn’t for a sharp sting of pain in the form of a flick to the forehead.

Jaehyun spluttered, “What the hell, Ten?”

Ten just laughed as he said, “Watch it, dumbass, your sleeve is in my juice. And your puppy eyes are making me nauseous.”

“What’s making you nauseous?” A playful voice asked. 

“Jaemin! My son!” Ten crooned, as the boy sat down on Jaehyun’s other side. 

Ten continued. “He’s lovesick again. In front of my toast.”

“I’m not lovesick!” Jaehyun whined.

Ten all but shouted,“Are too!” 

“Speak for yourself, not me!”

“I can and I will! Kun loves me and I love him, idiot!”

Jaemin giggled.


	2. of lassos and libraries

It was an average afternoon in the library, where time seemed to slow to match the dust motes floating in liquid gold light. Jaehyun and Jaemin had all but given up studying, instead choosing to nod off and daydream about homework-free days. The two Slytherin boys were slowly sliding down in the unfairly comfortable armchairs they had commandeered in their usual corner of the library. That is, until Jaehyun slowly became aware of a familiar voice floating up gently from one row of books over. 

“No, Johnny! I’m not going on a date with a random guy.”

It wasn’t until this moment, when the speaker raised his voice just slightly, that Jaehyun realized who it was. Taeyong? Date? Trying to pull himself out of his daze, all Jaehyun could think was “???”

“What do you mean, Tae? I obviously know him.” Jaehyun placed the other voice as extroverted but gentle Gryffindor Johnny Seo. 

There was a beat, then Johnny continued, “Oh! Let’s see, is this about–”

Jaehyun heard a faint popping sound, as if someone had clapped their hand over Johnny’s mouth. Johnny hummed a muffled protest.

“No! I mean yes–” Taeyong said, then continued quietly, “Yes. But please, no one can know that I like him. I’d actually die.”

Jaehyun felt his heart sink as the two continued softly chatting. So there was a someone for Taeyong. Who wouldn’t return his affections? Lovely Taeyong, with words like honey that were only made sweeter with how genuine he always was. And his eyes, dark and expressive, seemed to twinkle at everyone he met. Not to mention his lips– pink, plush, and matching his new hair color. Jaehyun was a man in love. He would move mountains– no, he would lasso the moon for Taeyong, if only–

He mentally slapped himself. Get it together, Jaehyun. Taeyong could like who he wanted. It was just a stupid crush. Right?


	3. an actual angel (and evil incarnate)

It was a Friday in History of Magic, and Ten was tapping at Jaehyun’s shoulder to pass him notes. Despite how interesting Professor Oh was outside of class, he was exceedingly dull during lectures, especially when it came to explaining the Goblin Wars. Jaehyun’s usual approach to fending off boredom and by extension, falling asleep on his desk, was to charm his ink neon colors and doodle all over his notes. Ten usually chose one of two things: to give up and nap on his desk, or bother Jaehyun with incessant gossip in the form of notes which nearly reached novel length. Apparently, it was a gossip kind of day.

As Jaehyun tried to surreptitiously accept the fourth piece of parchment (folded into the shape of a heart, because Ten was… well, Ten), he was aware of someone directly behind them clearing their throat. Quite passive-aggressively, Jaehyun thought. Ah, yes. It was Taeyong’s annoyingly stuck up co-prefect and friend, Doyoung, who always sat in the same spot behind them next to Taeyong. 

Jaehyun marveled at the fact that an actual angel and evil incarnate were able to get along so well. With this in mind, he turned around and tried to irritate Doyoung as much as possible, which, of course, was in the form of a completely unbothered and slightly taunting grin. They weren’t babies, for Merlin’s sake. Ten could pass him notes and they could still pay attention (not that they chose to). Jaehyun could feel Doyoung start to fume. To stoke the fire, he turned his focus to Taeyong and sent a wink in his direction. Doyoung was always quite protective over all of his friends (honestly though, some of them should be called minions. Not Taeyong, of course). 

Taeyong, who until this point had his eyes trained determinedly towards the chalkboard, glanced over at Jaehyun with his big eyes. Jaehyun, hopelessly awkward with any kind of (even vaguely) positive attention, felt his expression soften and he started to turn back to face the front of the room before he could do anything embarrassing. He didn’t make it all the way around before he noticed something peculiar, however. 

The tips of Taeyong’s ears had gone red, along with a dusting of pink on his cheeks. That was interesting. Was Taeyong just as mad at Jaehyun and Ten for slacking off as Doyoung? 

Jaehyun’s thoughts were interrupted by the realization that Professor Oh ended his droning about the seventeenth Goblin War, and was instead explaining an assignment. 

“So remember, one foot of parchment,” he was saying, “turned in by the Tuesday after next. See you next class!”

Everyone groaned then started to get up and leave, and Jaehyun sighed in annoyance. He’d have to bother Mark Lee into telling him what the essay was supposed to be about. The whiz kid wasn’t even supposed to be in this class, he was only a fourth year. He might be a Hufflepuff, but Jaehyun was pretty sure the kid could handle some minor harassment. He had seen it often enough with Mark’s so-called best friend, Slytherin third-year Donghyuck. Friendship was a dubious term for those two. Every time Jaehyun walked past them Donghyuck was either completely roasting Mark or pinching his cheeks and baby-talking at him. Weird kids. 

Jaehyun shoved his quill and parchment into his bag and was about to run after Mark, when he nearly collided with someone wearing Ravenclaw robes– 

Oh. It was Taeyong. 

He felt his cheeks start to heat up with the realization that Taeyong had been standing behind him waiting for him, and there Jaehyun was, sitting in his seat staring into space like an idiot.

“Um–”

“Hey–”

The two boys started speaking at the same time, abruptly stopping and staring at each other. 

It was Taeyong who broke the weird standstill.

“I just wanted to let you know, we’re supposed to write the essay with the person who sits next to us. You seemed pretty checked out, and I’m sure Ten was even worse. Um, that’s all.”

Taeyong turned to go, and Jaehyun watched him walk nearly to the door before he was able to unfreeze himself. 

“Wait! Taeyong!”

He ran to catch up with the pink haired boy, breathing a little heavy from the few quick strides.

“Um, thanks.” Jaehyun said, trying not to look Taeyong directly in the eye. (He was too pretty. It was dangerous.)

“No problem”, Taeyong said, giving a small smile that made his eyes scrunch up cutely and Jaehyun’s heart to actually stop.

A hand grabbed Jaehyun’s elbow and pulled him (painfully) away from the most adorable human alive, Ten’s voice giving a chirpy “Thanks Taeyong! We’ll just be– going–” 

Ten grunted with the slight effort of pulling Jaehyun out the door. 

Later, Jaehyun would lay on Ten’s bed alternating between expressing total mortification and giggling uncontrollably. The rest of the Slytherin sixth-years would think he lost his marbles.


	4. cake is for second years

Jaehyun woke up from a nightmare for the fourth time that week, a sheen of sweat making his whole body feel sticky.

He was stressed. Stressed about the future, stressed about living up to his parents’ standards, and stressed about being stressed. 

He figured that was why he continued to dream of failing all his exams, although that didn’t seem to explain why spiders were always in the equation. He shuddered.

Jaehyun needed to take a walk.

Quietly putting on his robe, Jaehyun padded through the dorm. He took a quick mental inventory to make sure he remembered the password (this month’s was just “eye of newt”. How basic.) and carefully exited through the common room. 

He knew where he was headed, the same place where he always went. He walked up a couple flights of stairs and took a left, a right, a left, getting ready to hide if he ran into anyone on patrol for the night. It was only midnight, which was a little more risky than his three in the morning strolls. 

Jaehyun started to fantasize about the hot chocolate and macarons he might be served by his favorite overzealous house elves. Or maybe he wanted cake? He scoffed at himself. No, sneaking into the kitchens just for cake was a second-year move. 

He took a right, a left, and another left. Sometimes living in the dungeon portion of the castle was downright insulting.

As he rounded another corner, the painting entrance finally in sight, he found himself blinded by the light of a wand in his face. 

Jaehyun thought to himself, “oh crap, please don’t be a professor”, hoping that his late night roaming wouldn’t end in a week of detention. 

Jaehyun’s eyes started to adjust to the light in front of him. The first thing he saw was a shiny prefect badge, followed by a pixie-like face, eyebrows scrunched together slightly in confusion. He then registered pastel pink hair, recognizing the owner of the sparkling prefect badge. 

It was Taeyong, fluffy-haired and yawning. 

“Jaehyun, what are you doing outside your dorm?” He said quietly. “I thought you were Jisung or Chenle. They sneak out every time I’m on patrol, though I can’t imagine why.”

Jaehyun was slightly taken aback by this information. Why was Taeyong telling him this? Shouldn’t he be mad and take Jaehyun somewhere to write him up? 

“Um, hi, Taeyong. Sometimes I can’t sleep. I was just heading to the kitchens–” he pointed, “to get something to eat.” 

Taeyong nodded enthusiastically while yawning, again. Cutie, Jaehyun’s brain supplied. Shut up, brain. 

“That’s actually a great idea!” Taeyong said with a smile.

What?

Taeyong continued, starting to lead the way to the kitchen entrance. “Have you had their hot chocolate? If you ask for French hot chocolate it’s like drinking a chocolate bar. I kid you not.”

Jaehyun followed, like that tabby cat that seemed to follow Ten everywhere he went.

And that was how Jaehyun found himself, at midnight in the kitchens, next to a sleepy Taeyong, having trays after trays of treats pushed at him by knee-high elves. It was borderline chaos, with every elf wanting to beam up at Taeyong and serve him something. Jaehyun could relate. 

Taeyong was giggling, but he seemed to register the overwhelmed look that Jaehyun had on his face. “Thanks! Thank you everyone, this is more than enough! We’re going to drink our hot chocolate now,” he said, and the elves, looking at him adoringly, went back to making breakfast for the next morning. 

He turned to Jaehyun, pink-cheeked and raising a teacup full of hot cocoa. 

“They seem to like me a lot. I don’t really know why.” Taeyong laughed. 

Jaehyun smiled, despite his shock of being seated so close to the beautiful Ravenclaw. “It’s because you’re so nice. They probably can’t help it.” He said, heart speeding up when he realized he may as well be talking about himself. 

The pretty blush of Taeyong’s cheeks deepened, and a slightly confused expression made its way back onto his face. 

“You really think so?”

Jaehyun faltered for a moment. This all seemed too… sweet for him. He hoped Taeyong wouldn’t catch on. 

But Taeyong was looking at him with a soft expression, eyes wide and glossy. His lips were slightly pouty, and he had chocolate on one corner of his mouth. 

Ah, screw it.

“I know so.” Jaehyun said, feeling a big dimpled smile take over his face. 

And with that, they started talking. About anything, everything, and Jaehyun wanted to hear it all.


	5. sleep deprived and generally confused

Jaehyun always noticed the ache of dark circles from sleepless nights the most during History of Magic. His head felt a little more fuzzy than usual, and the constant pain of a low level migraine kept him both awake and spaced out. In the back of his mind, he felt the pressure to take notes so he could pass the darn class, but getting his body to obey his conscience seemed to be a fruitless struggle entirely.

The sharp corner of a folded-up piece of parchment stabbed Jaehyun on the inside of his right elbow, causing him to jump slightly and nearly snap his quill in half. The fog cleared slightly from his mind, though he still turned to face Ten with his best grumpy cat face on.

“What do you want”, Jaehyun deadpanned.

Ten said nothing, sliding the parchment across their shared desk space with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. His level of alertness at this early in the morning was annoying, Jaehyun thought. Nevertheless, he opened the parchment as quietly as possible. Inside, surprisingly, were not the usual lines upon lines of incessant (and slightly petty) gossip. It was just one question.

_“Why is Taeyong looking at you like that?” _

Before he could stop himself, Jaehyun turned his head over his shoulder to look at Taeyong behind them. The boy’s eyes were slightly glazed over, a change from his usual rapt attention in class, and one cheek was slightly squashed from where it rested in his palm. A small smile curved the corners of his mouth, which struck Jaehyun as odd seeing as they were in the most boring class ever.

But that wasn’t the weirdest part. He seemed to be looking… straight at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun felt his heart jump once then stop, his body also frozen in place. Taeyong’s eyes seemed to move from his shoulders, to where his tie was hastily fastened, landing on his face.

Their eyes met, and Jaehyun gazed at the beautiful boy.

However, as quick as the moment started, it ended. Taeyong’s smile dropped, his eyes growing wide and a deep flush spreading across his cheeks. He looked down, opting to stare intensely at the sparse notes in front of him.

Jaehyun turned back around. He was greeted by an entirely unwelcome smirk from Ten, who proceeded to snatch back the parchment and obnoxiously underline the question three more times.

This time, he quickly scrawled back, _“Shut up. We’ll talk later.” _

Ten’s smirk persisted until the end of the class, which was a whole 43 minutes (Jaehyun counted).

\----

As their classmates started to leave the room, Jaehyun was once again struck with the realization that he needed to obtain the information he missed.

“You didn’t happen to take any notes whatsoever, did you.” he said to Ten.

“Is that a statement or a question?” Ten replied, eyes twinkling. He continued, “Of course not. But I know where we can find some.”

As he was speaking, Ten stood up and strode over to Taeyong and Doyoung, who were still seated behind them. Jaehyun followed, in haste to make sure Ten didn’t say anything embarrassing. (Though under the circumstances, it almost seemed too much to ask for.)

“Hey, Taeyongie”, Ten said, an overly sweet smile on his face. “Jaehyun and I were wondering if we could borrow your notes, since you take such great ones,'' he continued.

Even though this was definitely a common question asked of Taeyong, he seemed taken aback.

“Um… well… I didn’t…” Taeyong trailed off, exchanging an almost pleading glance with Doyoung. Jaehyun noticed the lack of notes in front of him on the desk. Did he not take any??

Doyoung, who usually used any opportunity he could to glare at Ten, quickly offered his notes instead.

“Here you go,” he said, sounding only slightly pained.

Jaehyun and Ten just stared at him.

“If these aren’t returned by tomorrow at the latest, you’re both dead,” he added.

_Aha!_ There was normal Doyoung. Jaehyun and Ten relaxed a little, Ten reaching forwards to pluck the papers out of his hands.

Jaehyun, who couldn’t bring himself to speak, waved at Taeyong and tried to give him a smile.

“Thanks!” Ten chirped, once again dragging Jaehyun out the door by his elbow.

They didn’t even make it around the corner before Ten stopped abruptly, causing Jaehyun to run into him.

“Dude, what happened,” Ten whisper-yelled (a unique talent of his).

“Your boytoy–”

“Don’t call him that!” Jaehyun interjected.

Ten just rolled his eyes. “Perfect Taeyong didn’t take notes? Because he was looking at you?”

Jaehyun panicked slightly. “I don’t think that’s what happened! If you must know, I think we are friends now. Or something. I don’t know. We were in the kitchens together last night and I– I mean, we actually got along.”

For once, Ten was almost at a loss for words. He just smiled slowly and repeated, “Last night?”

“Nothing like that!” Jaehyun hissed, ears flaming red.

“Hey! I didn’t say anything, you’re the one who implied it,” Ten said, wrapping an arm around Jaehyun’s shoulders and leading them down the hallway.

“If you don’t want me to expose your cutesy crush to our whole house though, you better tell me details,” he added, pinching Jaehyun’s cheek.

Jaehyun, though sleep deprived and generally confused, felt a warmth in his chest.

He proceeded to spill every detail to Ten. He was his best friend, after all.


	6. scared of bad grades and spiders

Jaehyun was tired.

He felt the weight of his sleepless nights in his limbs, in the fuzziness of his head, and the aching underneath his eyes. 

The moment he stepped out of his last exam before the Christmas holiday, he felt the breaking point. This point always consisted of misery, yes, but also an overwhelming sense of relief. 

His willpower to keep walking down the hall to dinner disappeared, and he opted to plop ungracefully down onto a bench placed against the wall. 

_ Just one moment _ , he thought, eyes sliding half shut.  _ I’ll just sit here for one moment.  _

Jaehyun let his body lean back against the wall and his legs straighten out towards the center of the hallway. The rational part of his brain  _ did _ identify this action as a possible tripping hazard, but he was too tired to do anything about it. 

Nevertheless, this realization didn’t prepare him for the reality of second-year Hufflepuff Lee Jeno falling forwards over his feet and landing with a  _ smack  _ on the floor. 

Before Jaehyun could say anything or even attempt to move, the boy scrambled to stand upright and clumsily ran away, a squeaked “Ohmygod! Sorry!” escaping from his mouth. 

Jaehyun sighed and continued to not move. Jeno seemed to be okay. He’d apologize on him another time. For the present, he saw his most pressing problems to be getting to the Great Hall then back to his dorm to sleep. 

That is, until he heard a door opening.  And then a gasp, followed by “it WAS you!”

Taeyong had appeared, suddenly, and was storming at him with a fiery expression in his eyes. 

_ Beautiful, but so, so angry _ , is all Jaehyun could think before he was pulled harshly from the bench, Taeyong leading him to a more secluded area around the corner. 

_ Wow, he’s strong,  _ is what Jaehyun’s brain supplied, rather than answering the rather important question of why this was happening to him.  _ Why right now _ , he internally whined as he was shoved against a wall. 

Taeyong took in a breath, and started speaking sternly. 

“I can’t believe you did that. I really, really believed you were different than they said.” 

Taeyong’s eyes were slightly glassy, and the look of disappointment on his face caused Jaehyun’s chest to  _ ache. _

“Are you really that arrogant? You’d trip a second year just because it’s entertaining? No one deserves that, especially Jeno. I thought– I really thought...”

Taeyong thinks he did it on purpose? That he’s mean and would want to hurt poor Jeno? 

Jaehyun’s eyes started to well up, his bottom lip quivering. 

It was too much to handle, and he was just so  _ tired.  _

Jaehyun burst into tears, noticing the way Taeyong stopped pushing him against the wall threateningly. 

“Oh… Jae?” Taeyong said quietly, Jaehyun’s heart swelling with the nickname despite the tears running down his face. 

“I didn’t– accident– sorry–” Jaehyun managed while sniffling. God, this was embarrassing.

He took a deep breath and this time, the words spilled out of his mouth. “I’ve barely slept in a week, I really didn’t mean to trip him, I was falling asleep over there, and oh my god I’m so sorry I’m just so tired please don’t hate me Taeyong…”

Jaehyun stopped speaking when he felt a delicate hand touch his wet cheek, Taeyong’s thumb wiping away a stray tear. He looked up, and through his tears saw that Taeyong’s expression had softened to one of worry, his eyes now kind instead of furious. 

Taeyong’s hand on his cheek moved to the back of his head, softly threading his fingers through Jaehyun’s hair and pulling his head down to his shoulder. His other arm wrapped around Jaehyun’s back in a comforting embrace, and he softly whispered a mantra of, “Shh, shh, it’s okay, I’m so sorry”

The last thing Jaehyun expected in this situation was to be absolutely coddled by Taeyong, but he sure didn’t want to question it.

Jaehyun hiccuped a little in Taeyong’s embrace, his breathing gradually slowing and tears nearly stopping. He pulled away only when he felt it was safe to meet Taeyong’s eyes without crying harder again.

“I’m so sorry,” Taeyong said again, in his soft and comforting voice. “I shouldn’t have assumed.”

He smiled sympathetically, then added, “How are you so cute when you cry?”

“I’m not cute, I’m dumb”, Jaehyun said with a small sniff.

“Now why is that?” Taeyong asked. Jaehyun would have thought Taeyong was mocking him if he wasn’t so darn sincere. 

Once again, Jaehyun let the words spew out of his mouth. 

“I’m dumb. I’m an idiot, and I accidentally trip second years, and I really like you, and I can’t sleep, and everyone thinks I’m tough but I’m scared of bad grades and spiders and–”

Taeyong stopped him by squeezing his shoulders once. “Wait. You like me?”

Jaehyun hid his face in his hands, trying his best to prepare himself for rejection, only for Taeyong to gently pull them away.

“Well then,” Taeyong said, even quieter than before, “I think you should know that I like you too.”

Jaehyun felt color rising in his cheeks, his heart thumping so hard he thought it might burst. 

Well. That was unexpected. 

He found himself laughing, pulling Taeyong into a hug. Taeyong joined him, their combined laughter brightly bouncing off the stone walls.

Jaehyun didn’t feel so tired anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last official chapter, thank you for reading!  
(Bonus chapter in the works!)
> 
> Comment if you wish, I really appreciate them!


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